Sabangau National Park (sometimes spelled Sebangau) is a national park in

Central Kalimantan Central Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Tengah) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya and in 2010 its population was over 2.2 million, while the 20 ...

, a

province of Indonesia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

in Kalimantan, the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n part of the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

established in 2004. Between 1980 and 1995 the site was a massive logging concessions area. After 1995, the park became a site for illegal logging, which resulted in up to 85 percent of the 568,700-hectare total park area being destroyed. By 2012, less than 1 percent of the park's total area has been reforested and several centuries is needed to restore it to its pre-logged state.

Geography

The national park is centered on Sabangau River, a

blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black tea ...

. It flows through the Kelompok Hutan Kahayan or Sabangau

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates. Peat ...

(5,300 km²), between the Katingan and Kahayan rivers. The peat swamp forest is a dual ecosystem, with diverse tropical trees standing on a 10m - 12m layer of

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

- partly decayed and waterlogged plant material - which in turn covers relatively infertile soil. The severely degraded eastern part of the forest, between the Sabangau and the Kayahan, is officially designated for agriculture. However, since the failure of the

Mega Rice Project The Mega Rice Project was initiated in 1996 in the southern sections of Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of Borneo. The goal was to turn one million hectares of unproductive and sparsely populated peat swamp forest into rice paddies in an effo ...

, which drained large areas of

forest in an attempt to create rice paddies, no further efforts are being made to make it suitable for this purpose. The forest has been damaged by legal and illegal forestry. There is no longer any continuous

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

where orangutans may cross the river. A satellite view shows a grid of logging roads throughout most of the forest. However, the western part is now protected as either National Park or National Laboratory Research Area. A study of the area shows that the hydrological integrity of the forest has been maintained, and it is therefore ecologically resilient, although since it is close to the regional capital

Palangkaraya Palangka Raya is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The city is situated between the Kahayan and the Sabangau rivers on the island of Borneo. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 293,50 ...

it remains at risk.

Ecology

The forest is home to the world’s largest

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

population, estimated at 6,910 individuals in 2003, and other rare or unique species. The total agile gibbon population in the Sabangau catchment is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, but is declining fast. Vulnerable bird species include the

large green pigeon The large green pigeon (''Treron capellei'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened ...

(''Treron capellei'') and possibly Storm's stork (''Ciconia stormi'') and

lesser adjutant The lesser adjutant (''Leptoptilos javanicus'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus, it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary ...

(''Leptoptilus javanicus''). Efforts are underway to establish long-term ecological monitoring in the forest.THE IMPORTANCE OF ECOLOGICAL MONITORING FOR HABITAT MANAGEMENT - A CASE STUDY IN THE SABANGAU FOREST, CENTRAL KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA
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References

External links

Orangutan Foundation
{{authority control Geography of Central Kalimantan National parks of Indonesia Tourist attractions in Central Kalimantan Protected areas of Kalimantan Katingan Regency Pulang Pisau Regency Palangka Raya